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More than 130 tonnes of waste are collected by the council every day and while Percy’s touring company, Ollerton-based Little Blue Monster Productions, reported him missing, the chances of finding him among the refuse were extremely slim.

Staff from the Newark and Sherwood District Council and Veolia, which operates the waste transfer station at Brunel Drive in Newark, were asked to check their loads for the hapless puppet who had just been returned to the theatre company after being repaired.

Matt Adey, council waste management assistant business manager, said: "Fortunately, on this occasion, the driver of the bin lorry, Bob Macrae-Clifton, recalled that the bin was one of the first loaded onto his truck, and that the black bag containing Percy would be at the top of the tipped pile.

"When the lorry came to the waste transfer station and tipped its load we were able to look through the rubbish and due to the size of the puppet and the fact staff knew roughly where it would be they thankfully found Percy.

"Usually it is smaller items like keys or rings which go missing and unfortunately we have to say that there is little chance of recovering them. The loads are just too big and the items lost too small to find.”

Luckily, Percy only missed one performance with his absence filled by an understudy. He has since been reunited with the theatre’s touring team in Northamptonshire after quickly recovering from his ordeal and is now back delighting children nationwide.

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Richard Allen, contract logistics manager for Veolia, said: "We were pleased to be able to assist with the penguin rescue. Dan and Reece from our transfer station in Newark were quick off the mark and retrieved the fluffy fella before he came to any harm."